The present invention relates to a holding receptacle for vehicles.
German publication DE 27 58 066 A1 discloses a holding receptacle which is arranged in a space between two rear seats of a motor vehicle. The holding receptacle is designed in such a manner that two side walls together with transverse walls and a bottom form an upwardly open built-in box which serves as a storage space, for example, for bottles or ice buckets. The upwardly facing opening of the built-in box can be closed by a lid which is hinged pivotably on the holding receptacle and which may also be used as an arm rest or table. In this case, the self-supporting built-in box has a relatively high dead weight, particularly since it has to absorb all of the forces introduced via the hinged lid.
Since the built-in box also has to be matched as precisely as possible to the existing built-in space in order for the arrangement to give a good impression of quality, the installation of the holding receptacle lasts for a correspondingly long time, which may be undesirable for economic reasons. Also, the built-in box cannot easily be adapted to different requirements, for example if the built-in box is to have compartment divisions which differ according to the particular customer's requirements.
German publication DE 299 22 694 U1 discloses a holding receptacle for vehicles which is integrated in an arm rest. This holding receptacle can be used for cooling drinks or foodstuffs or keeping them warm.
Both Japanese publication JP 103 15 864 A and U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,529 show holding receptacles for motor vehicles which are arranged between two front seats.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,491 discloses a holding receptacle for motor vehicles which has a lightweight supporting frame as the load-bearing structure for a box-shaped insert.
The present invention has as one object the object of providing a holding receptacle of the type mentioned, the suitability of which, for a design which is advantageous with regard to weight, a more economic assembly and an adaptation to different equipment requirements of the customers, is significantly improved.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the features claimed.
Advantageous refinements of the invention are apparent from dependent claims.
With the division of the built-in box into a load-bearing lightweight structure and an insert, there is the advantageous possibility of combining a standard lightweight structure with inserts having different divisions. The formation of variants with inserts of this type, which preferably consist of plastic, is possible relatively cost-effectively.
In this case, the lightweight construction can advantageously be designed in such a manner that it is suitable for use in different types of vehicle. Owing to this standardization, a particularly economic manufacturing of the supporting structure is possible.
Owing to the fact that the box-shaped insert is held on its front and rear end sides by two crossmember structures, the insert can easily be fitted into the supporting frame. This has the advantage that the assembly of the holding receptacle can be further simplified.
In order to widen the formation of variants, the supporting frame may be extended forward over the box-shaped insert. Different functional units may then be accommodated, depending on requirements, in this region of the supporting frame.
The lever forces which are effective in a folding table, when transferring the folding table from its nonfunctional position into its functional position for example, can be absorbed particularly readily if the folding table is hinged in the region of the supporting frame which is close to the floor.
In order to accommodate commercially available bottles in a space-saving manner in the insert designed as a cooling receptacle, the insert may have a trapezoidal longitudinal section, with the longitudinal extent of the cooling receptacle significantly exceeding its height.
By making a circular cutout in the rectangular basic surface of the side wall structures, an optimum distribution of forces in the supporting frame is achieved in particular if a lid for the box-shaped insert is hinged to the supporting frame.
The holding receptacle may be extended into the region of the seat back by means of a tower attachment. This has the advantage that further functional units, for example CD or DVD drives, can be accommodated next to the vehicle seat in a readily accessible manner for the vehicle occupant.
In order to support the tower attachment on the body shell structure of the vehicle, the side wall structures of the tower attachment are designed in a manner such that they are widened upward in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle from the fastening to the holding receptacle. The resultant rear end wall which runs at an inclination can then be used to fasten the tower attachment, for example, to the rear wall of the seat.
The compartment bottoms which are formed by crossmember structures enable internal components to be accommodated in the tower attachment, it being possible for these internal components to be pushed into the compartment bottoms in a simple manner. As a result, the tower attachment can be adapted cost-effectively to the particular equipment requirements.
In order to integrate the holding receptacle into the vehicle in a manner corresponding to the interior fittings, the side wall structures can be covered on their side facing the vehicle seat by large paneling parts.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawings.